If it didn’t, I’d have just found other, less interesting procrastination fodder anyway
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Does anyone know how to get access to the Choice of rebels discord?
Has the organization of the Hegemonic Army been described anywhere? I think the leader of the force sent against the MC has the rank “Tagmatarch” so I assume he would command a Tagma which I googled was a term first used for an Eastern Roman infantry battalion of 200-400 which is about the range of the force that goes against the MC excluding the various auxiliary forces that can take part. Is a Tagma a standard unit, and what larger formation would a Tagma be an element of?
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The Phalangite rank above tagmatarch is turmarch, commander of a tourma (~2,000 soldiers), another term drawn from Byzantine military organization. We know that the Southriding has its own Turmarch, who commands the forces mustered at the Abhuman border—it’s a safe bet that we’ll have the choice to face them soon enough. Just a quick Sojourn up to pay them a visit, I imagine, so they can say hello to our little friends (and make a stand against the forces of anarchy and darkness).
The last Southriding turmarch we hear about is from House Baryatou: conservation of narrative suggests they’d still be around—you could slide in a de Firiac subplot there—but that’s all backstory: they could easily be dead by now.
Above turmarchs is a strategos, commanding several thousand soldiers. The commander of a province’s Alastors also holds this rank, which you may recognize from Strategos Nomiki, Horion’s supposed enemy. It’s not confirmed that a Phalangite Strategos would have command over a province’s worth of Phalangites (parallel to a Byzantine theme), but it’s not an unreasonable conclusion.
Incidentally, the lowest known Phalangite command rank is kentarch, commanding ~100 soldiers: “centurion” may be a more familiar rendering.
In general, Karagon is aesthetically based on Greece and the Eastern Roman Empire / Byzantium, and we see that reflected in the Hegemony’s military structure. History is a wellspring for building realistic fictional worlds, etc.
tl;dr: Kentarch (~100) < Tagmatarch (~300) < Turmarch (~2000) < Strategos (several thousand). Other Phalangite ranks may exist, but haven’t been revealed.
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I appreciate the thorough answer, that makes things pretty clear. I was aware of the association of Karagon with Greece and Byzantium, but I didn’t really know much about the development of the Roman/Byzantine army after the principate.
While I definitely remember Strategos Nomiki, I had also totally forgotten about the Turmarch in Southriding until you mentioned them. Hope you’re right and we’ll get a chance to face them or their successor.
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Since the forum’s been dead for a good 23 days, I’m going to take this opportunity to post a graph I made depicting how many times a certain character’s name was said in the Discord. Basically, a character popularity contest. ( for characters who’s name changes based on gender, I added all the times they were referred as both names ex. Kala/Kalt. so those numbers might be a bit inflated. )
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MC Supremacy. Down with Breden
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poor Alira Bowyer—the unkillable, killer of Theurges, not notable enough to be a Notable Rebel outside extraordinary circumstances, last place in the rankings.
That said, I’m still investing in Alira emotional stock—I’m guessing she has good odds of dying tragically by the end of Stormwright.
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Hey everyone, hope you’re all well and keeping safe.
I found this should to be both ominous and delightful in equal measure.
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Not written a word these past few weeks, I’m afraid. I worked in Afghanistan a decade+ ago, and am currently trying to help about 30 former colleagues (and counting) navigate the various half-baked, exclusionary, cumbersome, and above all TOO FKKING LATE systems for getting evacuee or refugee visas that Western governments have been lurching to put into place over the past three weeks.
But since we’ve hit a wall of government incompetence where there’s basically nothing more to be done from my side for the time being, I think I’ll actually have some time to take a breather and write XoR tomorrow. Maybe some Kalt/Kala scenes; that would only go a little bit beyond my feelings toward the US and UK administrations at the moment.
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Don’t worry at all about us. If Book 2 took a decade to arrive, but the reason was because you’re so busy and deeply involved with trying to improve the lives of others, I’m quite sure very few people would hold it against you. On the contrary, I think it’s a fairly unique aspect of this particular sub-community; how proud we can be of our author not just for their skill as a writer but for their humanity and character away from their works of fiction.
That is to say: I expect the fans here will conduct themselves with great patience and consideration in the longterm, in no small part due to respect for yourself as a human in addition to an author.
I’m glad to hear you may be writing some fierce characters soon, as I’ve just prepared this:
Best wishes to you all.
Addendum: I didn’t plan to make anymore videos at the moment, but woke up this morning with this idea rapidly coalescing. Hope you all enjoy.
I’d like to offer a disclaimer, just in case: 1. Guns are dangerous tools to only be used with a good, adult reason, and 2. This was in no way approved, endorsed or made with any authority from Mr. Havenstone or anyone else.
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How much nationalist sentiment is there in the other Archonties? Will it be a feasible strategy for a non-isolationist, non-xenophobic homelander to wage a nationalist revolt in Shayard and then back nationalist movements in Erezza, Wiendrj and Nyryal?
I think that one of the factors the MC can consider in keeping their Shayarin name is to appeal to people in other nations that also haven’t taken Karagon names, not just to appeal to other Shayardenes.
How much nationalist sentiment is there in the Empire of Halassur and will there be any opportunity to destabilize that regime too?
Finally two questions for an MC with high homelander stat:
- Will it be possible for such an MC to cooperate with the Leaguers rather than the Laconniers if they decide that’s better for Shayard’s future?
- Can a homelander have a positive and productive relationship with Cerlota?
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How does one bring an atheistic and egalitarian revolution as my MC would bring a revolution whose goal is Independence and/or destruction of anything they view oppressive which is Religion, Their ruler‘s culture and the Aristocracy. 2INT/1COM with Ruthless/Skeptic/Any. (MC doesn‘t view wealth as evil just aristocratic rule so merchants are fine. While nationalism is any as long as it brings it‘s goals)
TLDR: Religion shall be abolished and the Aristocracy shall be punished with unrelenting rage the rest is fair game.
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To effectively advocate for atheism in this book, you might wanna have 2CHA. Failing that, all you can do is be a skeptic and kill clergy. Clerics tend to be charismatic, so a brainiac won’t be beating them in debate yet.
As for smashing the nobles, to do that…smash nobles. Just be careful about doing too much smashing if you don’t wanna end up ruling your own personal Afghanistan.
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I think so! It certainly makes sense for a nationalist Shayardene movement to seek help from, and seek to help, other nationalist movements. I don’t know much about nationalism but I’d like to think it’s not just about xenophobia and a perception of the superiority of your own culture; rather an attempt to preserve the local culture and heritage. Not sure how much that’s just idealism, though.
I’m not sure how much ability we’ll have to influence the fate of Halassur, though “some” is a reasonable expectation.
Not sure regarding your final two questions. We have no ability to influence our relationship with Cerlota in the first book, at least directly, if that helps.
I expect this to be possible, in broader terms, with any basic stat combinations - if you specialise in combat, for exampe, you could just butcher everyone who disagrees with you. Charismatic leaders could persuade them to change their ways, and so on. How this will play out in detail I’m very much looking forward to seeing!
Thank you for including the “if”! It should be very interesting to see how much destruction we can wreak on our own homeland, in the name of liberation, without causing a “bad” ending.
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Early nationalist movements tried to help each other quite often. It’s not a coincidence that Italy and Germany united in the same timeframe. Their enemies were the huge, multinational empires like the Austria-Hungary and Russia – not each other.
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That’s a great consideration, thank you! I wonder how much pseudo-fascism we’ll encounter - or create - as the Hegemony begins to collapse throughout the saga.
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You can smash the provincial nobility just fine, at this stage they seem to be mostly useless quislings who are reliant on Karagond provided theurgy, especially of the agricultural variety for the upkeep of their estates.
It is the merchants and lower ranking officials like Bleys you can ill afford to smash, imho to avoid that personal Afghanistan. At least they might provide an alternative to empowering the provincial nobility.
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This is not intended as part of a debate or a specific attempt to change peoples’ minds. Rather, an attempt to illustrate a particular perspective on the matter. A casual manifesto of philosophy, if you will.
I hope people find this an interesting topic worthy of consideration, if for no other reason than that these issues will most certainly be raised again as the saga progresses. I’ve encountered many examples of people talking in casual absolutes with regards to these extremely nuanced topics and hope to explore some of that nuance here.
Why Murdering All the Aristos is OK: A step-by-step Guide
- Who was more innocent?
I think that’s a very important distinction to make. The aristocrats who watched the harrowings, regretting it but thinking that there was nothing they could do (at best), or the helots being fed into the harrower?
Nuance is brilliant, and I love it, but even within the minutiae lines can still be drawn. I believe very strongly that whatever innocence these nobles may possess pales in comparison to the innocence of the generations of victims of systematic murder and oppression.
- Three German resistance members in 1942 printed the following words in a propaganda pamphlet, apparently:
Since the conquest of Poland, 300,000 Jews have been murdered in this country in the most bestial way […] The German people slumber on in dull, stupid sleep and encourage the fascist criminals. Each wants to be exonerated of guilt, each one continues on his way with the most placid, calm conscience. But he cannot be exonerated; he is guilty, guilty, guilty!
My point in quoting this is not to make the assumption that they are inherently correct in their words, but rather to cite a firm historical example of how some people actually felt in a similar situation. Taking into consideration, of course, the differences between the realities faced by the German populace and that of the Shayardene aristocracy, this could be therefore reasonably be described as a normal human reaction for a Shayardene helot to have - I think it’s a position that deserves a lot of empathy.
As before, I apply the same level of care and consideration to each facet of society. The plight of the murdered or the plight of those living safely under, supporting, the murderers; to say nothing of the murderers themselves, of course, which in the world of Choice of Rebels are many indeed.
- Elery’s death by harrowing in a Jailbreak intro:
You won’t let yourself be carried away by daydreams of rebellion. That’s just a good way to get yourself and your father killed.
To your shock, the battered Elery Skinner springs up from “unconsciousness” and launches herself at the two magi, her hands clawed and teeth bared. But even before the Alastors have a chance to club her down, the second Theurge thrusts out his fist and Elery is wrenched backward off her feet.
“Ah, Angels,” she howls as she rises off the ground, floating toward the maw of the Harrower. “Damn the Thaumatarch! And damn you all!” The manacles clack inexorably shut around her wrists and ankles, and you close your eyes. Her shriek grows more piercing, then ends abruptly in a chattering of blades. The only sounds are the sobs of the other doomed helots and the splash of blood into the urns at the base of the machine.
I wouldn’t think I’m alone in enjoying the character of Elery Skinner, looking forward to her future whilst safeguarding and growing her in the meantime. This is another way of saying: her opinion probably matters to most MCs that people write.
Her last words, ringing in the MC’s ears: “Damn you all!” and after, screams, sobs, splashes and silence. I think that near any MC would feel very guilty after such an experience, remembering it very clearly and understanding that her curse applied just as much to them as any other. It is not a great stretch to imagine that such a guilt-ridden MC might therefore resolve to carry out her final wish to the letter in the name of redemption.
- Passing the point of no return.
We are left, therefore, with an enraged, armed populace, filled with people with personal, living memories of witnessing the brutal deaths of hundreds of innocents. Now having the ability to enact some form of justice upon those responsible for those deaths - and, notably, lacking any formal education designed to inspire critical thought processes due to that very system of oppression - how could one have any reasonable expectations of curbed behaviour by such rebels?
The point isn’t whether the apparently-innocent nobles deserve it, but that you can’t really blame the rebels if, or when, they enact a policy of slaughter with regards to the ruling classes and anyone who could remotely have been perceived to have assisted them. From their perspective it has become too late for equivocations and a time for either acceptance or enmity.
In conclusion, I believe it is simply a case of applying one’s empathy to both parties equally and seeing which side of the scales of justice one feels each party falls upon.
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